linker options for dotnet, especially open source/free

Hi there,
I am not sure if linker is the  correct term for the tool I'm trying to ask,
but I've seen it used like this.
There are products which allow you to create a package from a .NET project,
which is completely native code, and includes all used pieces of .NET
framework with it.
http://www.remotesoft.com/ http://www.xenocode.com/ and ThinApp from VMVare
are examples of these products.
Unfortunately, the price range for these products is beyond my budget in the
current context. I'd love to hear any alternatives to these tools if you
know any.
There are still many scenarios where I see users with no .NET framework
installed, and it would be great if I could give them a standalone exe like
in the old days.
I would even consider investing my time in a project for developing this
kind of tool, so I'd also appreciate recommendations for books/resources.
Jeffrey Richter's books used to be quite informative about this kind of
stuff, but I am not aware of the current situation. Of course clickonce
scenarios and dynamic class loading etc. would be large question marks, but
still there I many scenarios where I can make use of this kind of tools.
Actually, I have one in my hands, and the only reason I am not able to
insist on C# is the potential .net framework deployment issues.
All your feedback is much appreciated

Kind Regards
Seref Arikan

===================================
View archives and manage your subscription(s) at http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives